There were 1,312 children enumerated as members of these complete or broken families, many of them born to young married people who had but recently come to the city. More children[180] were found in the Italian than in the American or Irish families, the proportion being 3.1 children to an Italian family, 2.1 to an Irish family, 1.8 to an American family. Ages were recorded of the persons making application for cottages.
[180] See [Tables 38] and [39], [p. 156].
TABLE 67.—AGES OF APPLICANTS RECEIVING AID UNDER THE COTTAGE PLAN[181]
| Age period | Applicants in each specified age period |
|---|---|
| Less than 30 years | 81 |
| 30 years and less than 40 years | 191 |
| 40 years and less than 50 years | 173 |
| 50 years and less than 60 years | 132 |
| 60 years and less than 70 years | 71 |
| 70 years and over | 24 |
| Total | 672 |
[181] Of the 680 families investigated, eight failed to supply information relative to age of applicant.
Sixty-six per cent of the 680 applicants were women. It is interesting to compare this number with the 41 per cent of women among the recipients of bonuses[182] and the 18 per cent among the families receiving grants and loans.[183] The burden of making application fell more and more on the women as the family moved down in the social and economic scale. From April 18, 1906, to the date of the investigation, 138 persons in the group suffered the handicap of illness, 55 were invalided, 28 met with accidents, and 89 were removed by death. These data represent the carrying of unduly heavy burdens.
[182] See [Part IV], [p. 242]. The fact that so many women had lodging houses in the burned district before the disaster accounts partly for the large proportion of women applicants for bonuses.
[183] See [Part IV], [p. 261].
The number of families in the group that supported other than their own children, aged parents, or other relatives, was only 68, or 10 per cent of the total. The size of the households was, however, further increased by the presence of some persons who were self-supporting or who contributed to the common income. The comparatively small number of dependents both before and after the fire may have been due to poverty, to lack of room, or to the fact that many were comparatively recent arrivals and had no dependents in America.